Worst Night In NBA History?
On November 19, 2004, the biggest fight in NBA history, and maybe all of professional sports history took place in Detroit, Michigan, at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons were playing a regular season game in the beginning of the season, and had just come off facing each other in the Eastern Conference Finals the series prior.
Footage of the fight can be seen in a Tweet embedded below from Ballislife.
The fight led to many suspensions for nine players including stars Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest (Metta World Peace), Stephen Jackson and Ben Wallace.
ESPN Stats & Info shared just how much money was lost in a Tweet from 2014.
The Pacers had been a contender in the Eastern Conference that season, but the fight basically cost them being contenders because of all the players that were suspended missing so much time.
They did still finish 44-38 as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Not to mention they also ended up playing the Pistons ironically in the NBA Playoffs once again, but lost in the second round to them.
The fight was one of the biggest stains on NBA history, because of the interactions between the players and the fans.
Fans ran onto the court, players ran into the stands and there was not much security to prevent the horrific scene.
Netflix released a documentary on the fight on August 10, and interviewed Wallace, World Peace, Jackson O'Neal and others.
A trailer of the documentary can be seen in Tweet from Netflix below, and the documentary is available to watch now on Netflix.
The Pistons no longer play at The Palace of Auburn Hills as of 2017, and it was demolished in July of 2020 and the video on YouTube can be watched here.
They now play at Little Caesars Arena.
